The cold smell of fish,
filling the graves.
A lighthouse flash,
from within.
A red shift, unseen –
slipping into the sea.
At the brink,
I surround my bones-
with unheard birdsong.
And words, that
brought me here.

A temple alters
the wind.
Twilight shadows
on hesitant hills.
The cries of
sun -drenched
minivets.
Dead petals
right down
the street.
Look at all this,
and tell your
story again.

It was my birthday today..almost six months to the day…since I arrived in Taiwan. I had a wonderful day…with a special friend. This poem a further reflection of my experience on the island. A ‘wendan’ is a local name for a pomelo.

In and out of
the towns and cities.
The next papaya
or wendan, a
homeland persisting
Drinkers, poets and
black earth sprouting.
A floating island,
deep in meditation.
Perched across
death and life.
Each star….
a solitary moment
and nothing in the cry.

A poem written, sheltering from the storm.

Summer thunderstorm,
and a panic inside.
Heavy enough,
to stretch the truth
and sour tastes.

Rain falls, a void
and aimless flight.
A moment, to hold
back a journey
and white silk heat.

This rain drop world,
walked with death –
and suffering nights.
I write for a new
day and sunlit shallow.

Outside Yangchengpu
station – no wind, no waves.
The scooters sing,
and leap the world’s ties.
A calming of the heart.
How many know the way?

rhdr

In the back ally,
a light – through
old plum rain.
Mixed, with spots
of sunlight.
Pulsing to the
centre of the earth.
A spring wind,
another world changed –
colouring itself
across the seas.

Clouds seeming to
leave, hooded in hakka.
My old friend, the blue
magpie -empty
in morning shadow.

Each moment, now
a stone staircase.
Dirt and dead petals,
line the streets and the
soles of my feet.
All too recent to rot.

Trees are walking,
life is fleeting –
the sound of water.
A leaf falls,
and a bird sings.
All of this,
says what I think.

A poem I wrote today.

My coming,
my going – all in a day
The withering
of trees and
impersonal nature.

With luck, I will
leave this island
With luck, I will
stay – and leap
for life and death.

In a dream,
a password
into the island.
Sunlight splits the sea,
wave after wave.
The people, just
mild stones –
summersaulting
in unfinished flight.
As clouds return,
to a sudden applause.